Fingerstyle vs Fingerpicking

Originally Posted by JWU53

...the same as the differences between a violin and a fiddle.

Or, purple and violet. Rich and wealthy. Street and Lane. Kiss and Smooch. Dog and Canine. Fingerstyle and Fingerpick.

And, BTW, if you type the word "facebook" in any field at Facebook, it underlines the word as misspelled.

To my thinking TE is fingerstyle, and J. Fahey is fingerpicking . . . it's our own personal perceptions.

[ljguitar]

Hi phoeneous…
When I'm with my bluegrass and country picking friends it's called fingerpicking, and when I'm at guitar society or advertising for students, it's called fingerstyle. In my bio I play ''Folk Fingerstyle''...

[gitardude]

If you're from New York or New England, it's most likely fingerstyle. If you're from south of the Mason-Dixon line, it's more likely fingerpicking. If you're from California, you're probably too stoned to care what it's called.

[JimR]

"Fingerstyle" is a guitar playing method. "Fingerpicking" is a selection process that determines which fingers you will use when playing fingerstyle.

[Mike_A]

well i think fingerstyle is a noun and fingerpicking is a verb. hmmm so does that mean i i play flatstyle coz i'm flatpicking mostly?

[hnuuhiwa]

Fingerstyle is what I do on my guitar and I think finerpicking is what my eight year old does to his nose

[knowspicker]

I'm a nosestyler.

[Glennwillow]

To me they are the same thing... but I could be wrong. I used to call my fingerstyle playing of today fingerpicking in the past.

- Glenn

[hnuuhiwa]

Originally Posted by knowspicker

I'm a nosestyler.

That would've been my guess based on your member name

[jmiked]

I've always considered the term fingerpicking to refer to the style of Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, and Merle Travis; while fingerstyle is more like Leo Kottke, Martin Simpson, and Laurence Juber and the folk players.

[edman]

Originally Posted by JWU53

...the same as the differences between a violin and a fiddle.

Exactly.

Different words for the same thing.

[dawhealer]

Semantics.

[dawhealer]

Originally Posted by gitardude

If you're from New York or New England, it's most likely fingerstyle. If you're from south of the Mason-Dixon line, it's more likely fingerpicking. If you're from California, you're probably too stoned to care what it's called.

[dweezil]

Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (picking individual notes with a single plectrum called a flatpick) or strumming all the strings of the instrument in chords. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking (although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific stylistic subset; see below). Music arranged for fingerstyle playing can include chords, arpeggios and other elements such as artificial harmonics, hammering on and pulling off with the fretting hand, using the body of the guitar percussively, and many other techniques.

Fingerpicking (also called thumb picking, alternating bass, or pattern picking) is a term that is used to describe both a playing style and a genre of music. It falls under the "fingerstyle" heading because it is plucked by the fingers, but it is generally used to play a specific type of folk, country-jazz and/or blues music. In this technique, the thumb maintains a steady rhythm, usually playing "alternating bass" patterns on the lower three strings, while the index, or index and middle fingers pick out melody and fill-in notes on the high strings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerstyle_guitar

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Where's my snow??

I though you folks "down south" were poised for more than here in northern New England this time..? Kin in the DC area and in N. Carolina report 12+ inches and power outages.

Just back in from a walk with my dog. Light and lovely snow falling right now. Maybe an inch or two today.

Originally Posted by JWU53

same as the differences between a violin and a fiddle

This is an interesting point of view. I am a fiddler, and good fiddling is all about the bow - bowing in a way that creates a good rhythm to propel dancers. Left hand issues like precise intonation and ornamentation, do not figure as importantly as they do to a violinist. If the bowing isn't compelling, it's not useful fiddling. Likewise, one could say that while Cannonball Rag is played by both John Renbourn and Merle Travis one rendition, I would assert, offers a more compelling rhythm.

Merle, of course, is a master of the Kentucky thumbstyle form of finger[picking/style] guitar. Which I would agree is a unique subset.